American presidential inaugural addresses are the representative political addresses with great historical meaning

in terms of which American presidents proclaim their administrative programs and persuade the audience to accept their own points

Therefore

the instantaneity and impact of the address determine the specialties during the selection of the language. The thesis analyzes the cognitive functions of conceptual metaphors in the American presidential inaugural addresses with theories of image schema and the philosophy of experientialism through both quantitative and qualitative methods. According to the cognitive interpretation of metaphors in discourses

the result can be summarized that the use of metaphors aims at explaining complicated and professional political terminologies through some familiar words. Hence

metaphors play the persuasive role in the addresses

and thus are able to affect the audience’s valuable views and emotions in order to realize their political purposes. It has been further proved that metaphors can determine administrative programs of the parties and influence the general public’s political attitudes in some extent

which can embody the practical value of cognitive linguistics.